There will be a mass formation flypast of up to 20 F/A-18F Super Hornets over the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, Brisbane and Ipswich, this Friday (21 Oct) as part of the welcoming ceremony for four new Super Hornets.
The arrival of the four new aircraft completes the Australian Super Hornet fleet to 24 aircraft.
Sixteen aircraft will depart RAAF Base Amberley between 10 am and 10.30 am and will fly in a loose formation to a point off North Stradbroke Island, where they will form up and fly south, crossing the coast at Southport before flying down the Gold Coast to Tweed Heads.
The armada will then fly out to sea and reform at a point off the Sunshine Coast where it will join with the four new Super Hornets.
The 20-strong formation will fly south from Noosa Heads down the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane where it will then fly over the CBD en route to Ipswich and RAAF Amberley. It is expected to pass over the base at 11.30am.
The formation will be accompanied at intervals by up to two Hawk Mk127 lead-in fighters.
The final number of aircraft flying will depend on operational and training tasks for the aircraft.
The mass formation flypast of up to 20 aircraft will be not only an historic event which may not be repeated, but an important training exercise for operational planners and aircrew.
A more detailed itinerary is as follows:
Outward leg including Gold Coast
Up to 16 x F/A-18F Super Hornets
10.00 am 16 x F/A-18F Super Hornets commence their launch from RAAF Amberley.
Amberley
1018 Springwood
1021 North Stradbroke Island
1023 South Stradbroke Island
1025 Southport
1026 Surfers Paradise
1026 Burleigh Heads
1027 Coolangatta
1028 Tweed Heads.
Sunshine Coast
Up to 20 x F/A-18F Super Hornets
1104 Noosa Heads
1106 Coolum Beach
1107 Maroochydore
1108 Caloundra
1111 Bribie Island
1113 Redcliffe
1114 Fisherman’s Islands
1115 Manly
1116 Wellington Point
1117 Southern Tip Moreton Island
1119 St Helena Island/Brisbane – Ipswich
Up to 20 x F/A-18F Super Hornets following the Brisbane River
1120 Lytton
1121 Balmoral/Hawthorne/Kangaroo Point/Botanic Gardens/Captain Cook Bridge
1122 Highgate Hill/St Lucia/Indooroopilly/Kenmore
1123 Jindalee/Moggill
1124 Ipswich
Note: The aircraft will fly at approximately 2000 feet (609 mtrs) and up to 350 knots (648 km/h)
Times and locations may vary dependant on the weather.
Further information: Paul Lineham, Defence Public Affairs - 07 3233 4210 or 0408 972 329
26 comments:
wow! 20 of them would be a real treat to see (and hear). hope you get to see the. my brother flew the hornets when he was in the navy
Agree with missred, that would be a sight to see.
Oh, I am GREEEN with envy!
Avtur in Aus is about 100cpl. FA18 burns about 495kg/min at low level. Multiply this by 20 aircraft. Do the sums.I wonder how many hours of Teacher Aide time in schools for kids with disabilities we could build on the fuel bill for this little PR stunt...
For a moment, I imagined this Hornet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kmmw9QqwKV
Numbers-Boy: None, because the SFB senior teachers/headmasters and their Unions would suck it into one of their party funds. The "kids with disabilities" are your rice bowl, and you are sucking back as hard as you can. If you were 'yakuza', you'd be bereft of digits.
Cheers
"Party funds?"
"Headmasters?"
"SFB Seniors Teachers"
None of these exist in this country. Must be some kind of weird Canadian anomaly.
1735099, the "little PR stunt" is actually a significant part of peace-time operational training.
For Australia to have a viable defence force, the money must be spent on fuel regardless of whether the aircraft are flown in sight of the taxpayers, or out over the desert somewhere.
Perhaps your argument is that we should not waste money on an air force?
A training sortie doesn't need 20 aircraft aloft simultaneously. They should have used the fuel and airframe hours for strike training. This is pure PR.
WOW!!! Thanks for the video Kae.
Skeeter
The little spud-peeler is insensible to the meaning of logistics.
Cheers
Minicapt
Yeah, getting a couple of fighters airborne out of Amberley might be enough to defend Toowoomba, provided that it is the only threat for the day.
We had a strict fuel budget and we accepted that after a big exercise, we would need to cut back on flying for awhile. On one occasion, my squadron was restricted to 4 hours flying per pilot per month. That lasted for about three months and gave us plenty of time to save fuel and do the complex operational planning for our next exercise: getting 16 aircraft across the continent from Williamtown to Pearce, a series of operations around Perth for a month, and then flying back to Williamtown.
I don't know how much fuel we used but I do remember, with some pain, filling my thirsty jet out of a lot of 44-gallon drums. Luckily, someone had planned to have them waiting for me beside the railway line at Forrest.
Logistics
Skeeter & Minicapt are obviously such experts on all matters military. They've participated in exercises after all.
I wonder how many active service operations they've participated in between them to have such in-depth knowledge?
1735099,what does your active service 40 years ago have to do with flying Super Hornets? You've shown here that you certainly haven't gained any knowledge of Military aviation through it.
When you wrote "I wonder how many active service operations they've participated in between them to have such in-depth knowledge?" did you mean that you only respect Military service if you've been shot at?
As someone who did over 20 years in the Military without being shot at, I think that makes you look like a condescending fool.
at first i was going to reply to (as minicapt put it so aptly) numbers boy. however graeme, skeeter & mimicapt outrank me. well done guys.
and using the cheap trick - its for the children, is just lazy. for the disabled children is pure vile
Cheap trick? After working in the field since 1971 I have some appreciation of the neglect and disregard shown to this group by a succession of administrations.
The vileness is the wicked waste of taxpayers money so the big boys can have a play and the armchair generals can get excited.
At least the NDIS is underway - agreed to at COAG this week.
Graeme
Like you, I have never been shot at — well not maliciously anyway.
This damage was caused by a 20 mm slug that missed my head by about 2 inches and caused only minor bleeding.
But it was a ricochet fired by a close friend during a peace-time exercise.
For the record, I never served on active-service. But like most people who frequent this blog I have great respect for all active-service veterans; and especially those that served in Vietnam.
kae: On Thursday I noticed the itinerary as you have recounted and saw the southbound flight over Surfers with a couple of mates.
What a marvelous sight to behold! I counted 18 planes moving fairly slowly in formation with another dancing off alone to the right and left like an expert Latin dancer twirling and showing off shamelessly. It was simply splendid.
As to Mr Numbers - what a wasted life so snarling, miserable and bitter about the beautiful things around you, clinging desperately to a job done half a century ago as a very young man and claiming that one very short experience bestows knowledge and standing well beyond the fact.
The alarming bit is the public service dills later let you loose as a "teacher" to peddle your ignorance and grand stories at the gullible young - an easy mark.
Contributor Graeme has you nailed alright!
The only problem you have with me, Mick is that I disagree with you. To call an overflight of billion dollar weapons designed to kill as "beautiful things around you" is beyond bizarre.
So numbers you are still trying to cause arguments on Kae's blog, don't you have a blog of your own where you can argue to your heart's content?
Not for you, 17 ... waffle waffle, the joy of witnessing the engineering excellence of these machines, the visual marvel, the raw power, the rare scene.
You amuse, rather than problem, me so with your self aggrandisement (as I said above) based on a tiny part of your life, unlike every one of my infinitely more modest contemporaries who served during the much more dangerous years well before Australia's withdrawal commenced.
Now go away little fellow.
If you look back at the comments Mick, you'll notice that my service was introduced into this by Minicapt, who resorts to puerile name-calling - something that happens with monotonous regularity.
If you're so offended by my service, don't use it as a form of abuse.
Minicapt has an excuse - he's a pseudo Yank after all. What's yours?
'Spud Peeler' is not a puerile name; it's an accurate assessment of your lack of intellectual attainments: sharp like butter knife. And your service is introduced by your nom de plume, on every possible occasion. And my knowledge of military affairs and such is far greater than that which could be acquired through six arduous months in a field kitchen.
Them that can't teach …
Cheers
"six arduous months in a field kitchen" - your ignorance of Australia's committment in SVN is revealed by your posts. Pull your head in - you're making a fool of yourself....
R-E-A-L-L-Y??????
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Norwegian_Army_field_kitchen_1905.jpg
Cheers
Post a Comment